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I'm retarded, engine is stuck in car, no idea what I'm doing wrong

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Old 10-24-2015, 01:32 PM
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Default I'm retarded, engine is stuck in car, no idea what I'm doing wrong

I'm trying to pull my engine/trans.

But when I try to hoist it, the whole car lifts off the ground. It seems like the motor mounts are stuck to the chassis even though I removed the retaining bolts. Is this even possible? They're few years old mazda comp mounts. Incidentally, I had no such problems when I put them in.

Yes, I removed all the fiddly bits (trans/ppf bolts, etc) that hold the engine/trans to the car, radiator, both manifolds, clutch slave, wires, etc. I can pry on the back area of the trans and the engine/trans wiggles and rocks. Yes, driveshaft is removed and PPF isn't connected. Besides the motor mounts, I can't find any place where the engine/trans is touching the chassis.

Is there something obvious I've missed? Has anyone else had this problem? How did you resolve it?

I wouldn't normally post such a retarded question but I've been trying to dislodge this piece of **** for the past four hours and no luck.
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Old 10-24-2015, 02:11 PM
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Exhaust? Ground strap? Clutch line? Heater hoses? Mixing manifold hose? Fuel line?
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Old 10-24-2015, 02:19 PM
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does it move in the engine mounts?

I can confirm that ground strap under the brake master can support the weight of the front of the chassis.
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Old 10-24-2015, 02:21 PM
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Yeah, 1st question: are the mounts budging away from subframe at all
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Old 10-24-2015, 02:39 PM
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I actually noticed the ground strap early on and unhooked it.

No, the mounts aren't budging.

After ******* around a bit more, it seems the whole assembly is pivoting around the motor mounts. I dunno how they have become stuck, but I suspect a prybar deficiency. The whole engine lifted right off with zero drama a few years ago, maybe I drove through a puddle of loctite or something.
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Old 10-24-2015, 02:40 PM
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you undid the nuts off the studs in the subframe right?
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Old 10-24-2015, 02:41 PM
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Unbolt the mounts from the motor, lift the engine out, then go back and figure out what's wrong with the mounts?

--Ian
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Old 10-24-2015, 02:57 PM
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Remove mount bolts from engine, and then the ones under the car holding the mounts to the subframe.
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Old 10-24-2015, 03:59 PM
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Ok, I undid the driver's side mount with the crane holding the weight. The whole thing freed up a bunch and that's when I realized that the bundle of wires that runs down the PPF into the engine bay was tangled in the clutch stuff behind the starter. Undid that and everything came loose. I'll tie off that bundle to the side before I reinstall.
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Old 10-24-2015, 04:00 PM
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Thanks everyone.
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Old 10-24-2015, 04:54 PM
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Hopefully no broken wires in the bundle...
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Old 10-24-2015, 05:17 PM
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It looks like I accidentally snapped a pair of wires off the tranny earlier in the process and I snapped off some weird one-wire sensor that I think goes to the stock temperature gauge (dunno what this is still doing there) but otherwise fine.

It turns out I'm an even more gigantic retard than I though. I wasn't lifting the car off the ground and the motor mounts weren't stuck. I left a jack under the rear of the car earlier and forgot about it. As I hoisted the engine upwards, the the car became back heavy, so it pivoted around the rear and the higher front jackstand and lifted up off the other front jack like a seesaw. Once I removed the rear jack and set the car down on its rear tires, everything started behaving properly.

Anyway, mission accomplished begun.

Attached Thumbnails I'm retarded, engine is stuck in car, no idea what I'm doing wrong-80-img_20151024_163434_d8a9f1077563b69c5bc67506c76aa634a69fa835.jpg  
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Old 10-24-2015, 06:15 PM
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Yep. That bracket that holds the wires suck. Did the same thing. I didn't reinstall the bracket lol.
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Old 10-27-2015, 01:04 PM
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Originally Posted by aidandj
Yep. That bracket that holds the wires suck. Did the same thing. I didn't reinstall the bracket lol.
I get rid the curly-q and all those damn brackets whenever I pull out a motor and trans. I hate them and they only slow me down in every way.
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